Merek's Ascendance (14 page)

             
“So,” Thorald said as they huddled together, “what do you think?”

             
“I think we should ask the villagers if they have any information. If animals have gone missing, if they’ve been stealing from the townsfolk, someone might have noticed.”

             
“Sounds good.”

             
“What do
you
think?” Merek asked Julia, who appeared to be deep in thought.

             
“That sounds like a good plan. We should work the taverns and the inns. A lot of travelers who like to gossip should make for good information.”

             
“Too bad your tracker couldn’t get us any closer,” Thorald said, “for what you paid him.”

             
“It’ll be close enough,” Merek replied, and said nothing more.

             
When they reached Tules, the three of them split up. Thorald and Julia both went to different taverns, while Merek headed for the inn.

             
It was a quiet setting, the inn. People talked in small groups, a black haired male bard sang a gentle song, and the innkeeper minded the table with a smile.

             
It was the innkeeper that Merek headed to, taking a seat at the table.

             
“What can I get you, traveler?”

             
“Hello, ma’am,” Merek said politely. Her brown hair flowed down her back while her brown eyes seemed tired, and her smile seemed forced closer up. She seemed taken aback but pleased, and she leaned over the counter towards him.

             
“Not many courteous people these days. Most of them have been scared off.”

             
She immediately closed her mouth, knowing she had said more than she had meant to.

             
“Scared off by what?” Merek said quietly, leaning closer to offer her some protection from prying ears.

             
“We’re not supposed to talk about it. Otherwise… they’ll know.”

             
“Where can I find them?”
              “What?” The Innkeeper’s eyes widened, shocked.

             
“The poachers. Or bandits, I’m assuming. They stay close by and intimidate you, keep you from reporting thefts to the guards. I’m here to bring them to justice. Where can I find them?”

             
“They… I can’t. If they find out…”

             
“They won’t,” Merek said, “just keep smiling. Pretend we’re flirting.”

             
“My husband will enjoy that,” she said, but she smiled anyway.

             
“I mean no disrespect,” Merek replied, smiling as well. She leaned closer, lifting her head to better show her chest.

             
“Now,” Merek said without breaking eye contact, “where are they?”

             
“In the forest. Never too far, because we sometimes can hear them when they get particularly… rowdy. When they want us to hear them. If you catch my drift.”

             
Merek was sure he didn’t, but he didn’t stop smiling.

             
“North of town, but how many miles… I don’t know.”

             
“That’s okay. That’s everything I need. Thank you, ma’am. And tell your husband what I’m about to do next is just to keep you out of danger.”

             
Before she could react, Merek leaned forward and kissed her cheek, winking at her as he left the inn.

             
Here’s hoping that book wasn’t wrong.

             
Merek went to the middle of the town to wait, as they had decided. He didn’t have to wait long before the others arrived, though neither looked particularly happy.

             
“Nothing,” Thorald said the moment he stopped walking.

             
“No one knew anything,” Julia said as she stood at Merek’s left shoulder.

             
“Oh, people knew,” Thorald yelped in anger, “but everyone is too afraid. Everyone. I asked three or four people, and each of them looked as if they were seeing a ghost. They know and no one is willing to talk.”

             
“Did you find anything, Merek?” Julia asked.

             
“North of town, not too far. Three miles at most.”

             
“How did you find that out?”

             
“I convinced the innkeeper to flirt with me,” Merek said without thinking. Julia had a strange look on her face, and both Merek and Thorald noticed.

             
“It was an act, of course,” Thorald supplied, coming to Merek’s rescue yet again.

             
“Yes,” Merek replied, “just so we’d convince anyone watching that nothing important was going on. It was just for information.”

             
“Well, we’d best act on it,” Julia said, turning away. Merek and Thorald exchanged a look, Merek of confusion and Thorald of worry.

             
He had faked flirting with the innkeeper to get information on their quarry. What was the harm?

             
“Did I do something wrong?” Merek whispered to Thorald as they left town.

             
“I’d ask her. Right now. Seriously, now, go ask her.”

             
Merek took a deep breath, moving closer to Julia. She didn’t
look
particularly upset, but her eyes did seem preoccupied.

             
“Did I do something wrong?” Merek repeated.

             
“No,” Julia replied, her whole face scrunching up in confusion. “Why would you think that?”

             
“You seem… unhappy, I guess?”

             
“With what?”

             
Merek did he best not to roll his eyes. Why did she insist on making this more difficult than it needed to be?

             
“With… flirting with the innkeeper.”

             
Her jaw dropped. If Merek didn’t know any better, he’d say she was completely lost. Now it was only Merek who was having trouble maintaining eye contact. 

             
“You can fake flirt with whomever you want. That’s your right.”

             
“But I don’t want to upset you.”

             
“Do you plan on marrying the innkeeper?”

             
“Considering she already has a husband, that wasn’t my intention.”

             
“Then why would I care?”

             
Merek opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He closed it and opened it again, but still nothing but air escaped.

             
Merek stopped dead as a sound reached his ears. Thorald took the opportunity to whisper, “and your second child too. Boy or girl, I don’t care.”

             
“Shush,” Merek said, his ears straining. He knew that sound, what was it…

             
He heard it again, and this time he recognized the growl. But it wasn’t a strong growl, no, it was pained. Hurt. It was in so much pain Merek didn’t want to believe his ears.

             
“No,” was all Merek said before he sprinted into the forest. His friends followed behind him, neither one speaking but following dutifully.

             
They weren’t running long.

             
Emerging from the bushes with a roar so pitiful it broke Merek’s heart came one of the bear cubs.

             
Its fear was palpable, and it lashed out at Merek. Merek reflexively caught the blow and started whispering to the bear. It was bigger now, growing up, but it wasn’t fully grown yet. Maybe it still remembered.

             
“Don’t you remember me? It’s me. You know me.”

             
The bear backed away, eyes full of fear. Thinking quickly, Merek stripped off everything from the waist up, leaving only his pants and boots. That’s how the two had met. Maybe it would spark something in the bear’s brain.

             
To Merek’s very great surprise, it worked.

             
The bear moved forward, burying its head in Merek’s lap. Then the bear started to shake, great large shakes that in turn shook Merek. Merek couldn’t believe what he was seeing, but there was no disputing it.

             
The cub was crying.

             
“That’s a bear,” Julia said, holding one of her daggers in her hand.

             
“This is my friend,” Merek replied, breathing heavily.

             
“I didn’t know bears could cry,” Thorald said.

             
“Neither did I,” Merek said. “I must admit, I never thought about it. And now that he is… I never wanted to find out.”

             
“Why is he crying?”

             
Merek looked around, but no more bears came forward. It was all the answer he needed.

             
“His mother. They’ve got his mother.”

Chapter Eleven: Bandit Raid

              “We can still save her,” Merek said, pleading with his friends.

             
“Save some animals who aren’t supposed to be hunted
and
take out our targets…” Thorald said, “Sounds like a good deal to me.”

             
“Let’s do it,” Julia said, drawing another dagger.

             
Merek gently patted the bear’s head, doing his best to silently reassure it. He quickly redressed before he took off running. The bear had luckily left a trail of broken branches and crushed leaves behind it, making it easy to track.

They raced through the forest, looking for anything that might tell them how close they were.

              Merek was the first to find it. He pulled up short, and the others stopped behind him.

             
“We’re close,” Merek said, bending over to examine a string tied between two trees.

             
“How can you tell?”

             
“Tripwire,” Merek said, pointing to the string suspended only a few inches off of the ground.

             
“What’s that?”

             
“Something holding a trap together. Maybe spikes. Depends on how much thought they put into this.”

             
“How do you know that?” Julia asked, sounding rather impressed.

             
“I read a lot,” he replied, following the wire to try and see what waited after it.

             
“That’s true,” Thorald chimed in, “he’s read half of the books in the library. I taught him how to read and he just took off, reading a book every hour.”

             
“Really?”

             
“No,” Merek interjected, “he exaggerates. I read a book every other day.”

             
“Sometimes every day!” Thorald said.

             
“Fine. Yes. Sometimes every day. Now, if we could focus…?”

             
“Right. Sorry. What do you think we should do?”

             
“I… I don’t know. I want to save the bears… but I don’t want to kill anyone.”

             
He looked up at Thorald, who shared a look with Julia. Neither one of them wanted to speak, or maybe they just didn’t know what to say. Either way, Merek was left kneeling in the grass, staring at the trap so badly disguised.

             
“Honestly…” Thorald finally said, “This is your choice. We can’t make it for you. But whichever you choose, I’ve got your back.”

             
“Me too. Whichever course you take,” Julia said.

             
Knight of Wentana, eh? But unwilling to spill blood. Can’t really keep up this ruse if you aren’t willing to act like a knight. And a knight brings wrongdoers to justice.

             
Merek looked off. What did he care about justice? It wasn’t like justice ever cared for him.

             
So if he wasn’t willing to kill for justice, what was he willing to do? And for what purpose?

             
He heard the roar of a bear, one that was in both physical and emotional agony. And in that moment, in that single second separated from the rest of time, Merek knew. The same as when the poacher had struck and Merek had cut him down. 

             
For his friends, he would kill.

             
“Let’s draw them out,” Merek said, drawing his sword. Thorald drew his sword and Julia withdrew two daggers for each hand. “We’ll activate their trap, and then see who comes running.”

             
“Sounds like a plan,” Thorald said, “where do we hide?”

             
“In the trees,” Merek replied, “in my experience, they don’t spend much time looking up.”

             
Thorald nodded, but Julia seemed to have trouble breathing.

             
“Are you okay?”

             
“It’s just… I’ve never actually been in a fight before,” she replied, “I’m not sure… I’m not sure what to do.”

             
“Don’t miss,” Thorald suggested, taking to a tree with a loud “oomph!”

             
“We don’t have to kill,” Merek said, “aim for legs, arms… injuries bad enough to stop them so we can capture them.”

             
“Okay,” she said, “okay, I can do that.”

             
“Do you two plan on flirting forever, or can we get to the part where we save the innocent animals?”

             
Merek and Julia nodded, and Merek helped her into a tree. Then he severed the cord, jumping back several feet in preparation for whatever was about to come his way.

             
Considering nothing happened, Merek felt a little let down. He looked up at Thorald and Julia, but they looked just as confused as he felt.

             
Shouldn’t that trap have been just a bit more… trap-like?

             
An arrow missed Merek’s head by an inch. He saw the metal glint and dodged to the side only a moment before it buried itself in his head.

             
Not a trap. An alarm. Stupid, should’ve known.

             
“Hold right where you are, boy!”

             
The voice was gruff, a man used to giving orders and expecting them to be carried out.

             
“Now, what is a knight of Wentana doing in our forest?” Merek turned to face the voice’s owner. It was a man as tall as he was with a deep scar running through his left eye. He had deep red hair and he was missing several teeth.

He was flanked by two other people, all dressed in ragged furs. One, a female, left very little of herself to the imagination, as her furs covered next to nothing. Her blond hair was cut short, and she had blue face paint covering half of her face.
The other, an archer, had long black hair and a sick grin that made Merek’s hair stand on end. He was the most clothed, and had a quiver full of arrows tied to his back.

“This isn’t your forest,” Merek said.
It’s mine,
he added.

“Oh? And who says it’s not?”

“I am Merek Quinn, knight-errant of Wentana. And I say it’s time you left the forest.”

The scarred man laughed, but it was a bark completely devoid of humor.
“Is that so?” he said, “Well, unless they don’t teach you how to count in that big old castle of yours, we have you outnumbered. So take off the fancy clothes and lay down your sword and your gold, and maybe we’ll let you walk out of here alive.”

“No, I don’t think I’ll be doing that,” Merek replied.

The archer drew back his bow, aiming a second arrow at his head.

“I’m feeling rather generous. Lay down your arms and give us what you’re carrying, or die.”

“Anytime would be good,” Merek said without breaking eye contact. The scarred man stared, confused, and he figured out what Merek meant a moment too late.

Two daggers flew from up high, burying themselves in the shoulders of the long-haired archer.
The woman jumped back, on high alert, but before she could even draw her weapon Merek had slid into a kick, taking her legs out from under her.

Then there was Thorald.

Pretty much as far from subtle as any human being could be, Thorald descended from the trees and crashed into the scarred man using his body as a projectile. Both of them hit the floor with a might crash, and before the scarred man could recover Merek kicked him in the head as hard as he could muster.

He turned back to the woman to find Julia was holding two more daggers to her throat, though she looked absolutely terrified at what she was doing.

Merek normally had reservations about punching women, but this one would kill him in a moment’s notice. Merek’s fist flew, knocking her out where she stood.

The archer had fallen to the ground, his mouth open and gaping. Perhaps the pain made it impossible for him to speak.

“Did I kill him?” Julia asked, her voice hushed.

“I don’t think
so,” Merek replied, examining the wounds. “Not if he gets treatment soon.”

“Do we plan on treating him?”

“They’ll have supplies at their base, and we’ll reach it long before we reach town and make it back here,” Thorald said, and Merek nodded. Merek stripped the archer of his bow and quiver before they started moving again.

“Where did you learn to aim like that?” Merek asked as they headed in the direction the poachers had come from.

“I practice.”

“You practice? You practice hitting a target with a dagger from… what is that, twenty feet? More?”

“Father said I should know how to defend myself,” she said, shrugging as she blushed. “He hired the Trainer to give me some lessons, and I just practiced. A lot.”

Merek and Thorald were silent as they ran through
the trees until Thorald said, “and your third one. You know what, all of them. Just Thorald A, Thorald B…”

“Yes, I get the point,” Merek said, “now shut up. We’re here.”

The three of them stopped as they reached what was unmistakably the bandit camp. It had been something else before, maybe a small town or a fortification, because tree trunks had been refined to points and a wall had been built. Only one building stood in the barrier, a stone keep about three cottages wide. There was only one way in, a gate that was guarded by a poacher with a sword even greater than Thorald’s. Merek could see a few other poachers, maybe four in all.

“Onl
y five of them,” Thorald said, piggybacking on Merek’s train of thought, “we can take them.”

Merek gave no indication that he had heard him, as he was thinking too hard. He sifted through all of the information he had acquired from the books he had read, and it all lead him to the same conclusion: this was far too easy.

“If there are only four of them, I’ll eat the Trainer,” Merek said. “An operation big enough to take this fort from whoever held it? Look at the wall, this is basically new. I would say there are a dozen of them, if not more.”

“So what’s the plan?” Julia said, taking deep breaths she was trying so hard to hide.

“If we go straight at them, we’ll be slaughtered. So we need to take them down before they know we’re here. Pick them off one by one, quickly and quietly.”

“Quiet isn’t exactly what I was built for.”

“Yeah,” Merek said as he eyed Thorald’s oversized sword, “I figured that. So that’ll be the plan.”

“What will?”

“You’re going to be a distraction. Julia will cover you. You see that wall? It’s too close to the hill. I can jump it, and handle any other archers. I assume you’re up for a little swordplay?”

“Always,” Thorald replied, happily drawing his weapon.

“Julia?”

“Where do you want me?” she asked.

“Wherever you can see and not be seen from. You watch Thorald’s flank. And I’m sorry, but this time, don’t aim to wound. Aim to kill.”

Julia took a deep breath, nodding as her lips scrunched up.
Merek hated to ask it of her, but there was no other way he could think of.

I
just asked a young woman to kill for me. I’m very much knight material.

Merek pushed away the thought, grabbing hold of his head as an ache started to overcome it.
For some reason, the sound of his father’s shouts echoed down the years to his brain, forcing a knot into his stomach.

He was asking two of his only friends in the whole world to kill so he could save a few animals. What kind of friend was he?

And they were nodding, accepting taking lives. What kind of friends were they?

“Merek?” Thorald said, “
Are you ready?”

Merek nodded, pulling himself together. Right or wrong, for better or worse, they were going to fight.

As they separated and Merek took his post, he only hoped he was making the right decision.

Thorald charged from the bushes, and the guard was there to meet him. The two traded only three blows, but the power from each man was astonishing. Their battle roused the four others nearby
, who all came running. It would take a moment to get the gate open, and in that moment Merek could not miss.

Only one was an archer, and Merek sunk an arrow into his chest before he had even grabbed his bow. No one noticed him fall, and they didn’t notice Merek strap his bow to his back and draw his staff, using it to lift him over the wall and land safely on the ston
e of the fort itself. Without hesitation, he sunk another arrow into the back of the poacher waiting for the gate to open.